going to work with daniel

Today, I had so much fun joining Daniel for the grand opening of MDI's Office Building. in Nocatee, Florida. Daniel managed the construction on this building for Elkins Constructors and the architect was Wakefield, Beasley and Associates. This 80,000 square foot building was modeled after several influences, including the Menorcan architecture found at Flagler College and the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine while also bringing in the refined classic styles of the Ponte Vedra area. The building houses an impressive collection of paintings and photographs from North Florida's history, wild life and natural beauty.
The 1st floor lobby of the building has a collection of art from the Florida State Archives, and the Library of Congress. The hallways of the 2nd floor showcase the nature and the wildlife of Northeast Florida while the 3rd floors artwork takes you on a journey to st. Augustine as it was one hundred years ago. So much thought went into the placement of each picture inside the building; one stretch of hallway takes you on a picture by picture walk down St. George Street while another stretch takes you on a tour of the Ponce De Leon, Flagler Properties and The Alcazar Hotel. The main staircase of the building host a gorgeous modern chandelier and a sleek stainless steel railing wrapping up to the third floor.

Nathan has had a wallet since his birthday last August. Although he doesn't keep it with him all the time he always knows where it is at and has it often. He keeps some money in it from time to time but usually it is empty. Well, the other morning I asked him if he had any money in his wallet, he said yes and opened it up. I didn't see any cash so i said, "Where is the money?" He pulled out an old gift card and said, "I have my debit card."

Jesus Loves Me!

What a great weekend we had with family. Daniel and I took the kids to disney on ice. This was the kids first time and of course, we all enjoyed it. I (i mean the kid) can't wait to go to the real disney.....hopefully this summer, for nathan's birthday. On saturday, we spent the day near the intercoastal at puplic park with family. We grilled, hunted easter eggs and flew kites. After that I had a wedding then it was church on Sunday.

It was so neat to hear the kids tell us the reason we celebrate easter; do they even realize the power behind what they are telling us? The Lord is already at work in their little hearts and they are so tender to it all. "Jesus died on the cross for me." "He came back to life" I still don't won't to get used to hearing them say 'Jesus loves me' , in word or song! How AWESOME!

check it out

I hope you have gotten a chance to visit The String Group's Blog!

http://thestringgroup.blogspot.com/
I know I haven't been the most interesting blogger for my personal blog, but hope to get better with it once I have adjusted to my new schedule!

I hope everyone has a great easter this weekend :)

Meeting Molly

I was so glad to visit Jody, David and their new baby girl, Molly Jean!

2nd Time Performing for a Bush :)

Thursday morning I had the unique honor to play with a trio for a private lunch with former President George W. Bush here in Jacksonville, Florida. I have been waiting on getting a picture from the day before I posted about it but as the days pass by, I decided to go ahead and post.

I was pretty excited about the event but we didn't know the location/time or even if it really was going to happen until the morning of! Leading up to Thursday we weren't given many details, just asked if The String Group could get a trio together for that day to play for President Bush. Honestly, I thought it was a prank on our company when I first heard the inquiry. Jody and I knew we both had flexible schedules and went ahead and told them yes!!! Now, all we needed was a cello and we would have a trio! We were very blessed that Lauren (our principle cellist, currently away getting her master's in TX until December) was in town on her Spring Break and was available that morning.

We got to The Carling downtown a little over an hour before the lunch was scheduled to take place. The security checked all of our 'large black cases' and directed us upstairs to where we were to set up! This was my first time inside The Carling (formally known as The Roosevelt Hotel), it is a beautifully renovated building downtown, built in 1926. Today, it has been converted into premier upscale apartment living and is a great location for weddings and events. The Roosevelt Hotel's original architecture has been beautifully restored to keep the building's original splendor and as a musician I couldn't have asked for the acoustics to be any better. We played at the top of a grand marble staircase that lead to the open meeting area where the former president and his guest would spend there time together.

We played for about an hour before the president spoke to his guest. When President Bush first arrived and made his way up the staircase, Ambassador John Rood took the time to introduce the president to us. We were more than happy to stop playing and greet our former president! President Bush was very pleasant and even got the photographer to come over and take a picture (we weren't allowed to bring our personal cameras). I never imagined how calming and cordial our former president would be.

After playing, we got all of our stuff up (as quietly as possible) and made our way down the stairs to pack up our instruments. Well the 'as quietly as possible' was quickly interrupted by the quick flip of one our music stand tops that was holding a closed 1 inch binder of music.....the book landed flat and made a nice 'bang' as it landed on the hard marble floor, with the added advantage of the great acoustics I mentioned before! The Security walking with us told us to 'just keep walking' and they would get it for us, like there was any covering that up.

After leaving The Carling we ran into some media outside on the corner of the blocked street. Sadly for them they didn't get much out of us 1. we didn't know much, 2. we didn't know what we could share of the little we did know and 3. I don't think any of us were worth 2 cents in front of the camera! hahaha!

I ran on nervous energy for the rest of the day. I went to work a little before I had to go to some private lessons then decided it was finally a safe time to eat and take my antibiotics. I had decided since the medicine I am currently taking makes me so sick I would put off taking it and eating until after the event, I just drake lots of water! I finally made it to Firehouse and the cashier greeted me with a "how has YOUR day been?" In that moment I went from telling him the casual 'ok' or 'good' to "This is my only time to answer in the way I could, so I did. I grinned and told him I had a great day and was calming down from playing for and meeting former president bush earlier that day! After I said that I just laughed and he said, "Well, that question is rarely answered and certainly never answered that way!" He took my order and I headed to the lessons. After my lessons, I had a bridal consultation and then it was off to orchestra practice.

It was a longgg day but I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to play for former President Bush! I couldn't be more thankful to my husband and his parents for being available to make it all possible!

By the way, this was my 2nd time performing for a Bush....back in the early 90s I 'sang' with FBC Children's Choir for President George H.W. Bush! I am sure many of my FBC friends remember Amerikids and the cute red, white and blue long bloomers we wore! Sadly, I didn't have enough time to get one of those awesome costumes made for me to wear this time, oh well!